St. Pierre Talks Win Over Serra

Newly crowned UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre (Pictures) spoke exclusively with Sherdog.com the day after his impressive second-round TKO over Matt Serra (Pictures) at UFC 83. With the win, St. Pierre reclaimed the belt that Serra had taken from him in his first title defense in April 2007.

"Yesterday was the most beautiful day of my life," St. Pierre said, his voice still raspy and full of happiness. "Everything worked out perfectly, and it is a dream come true."

To get the win, St. Pierre employed a very solid wrestling game that allowed him to stay on top of Serra and punish him with countless hard knees to the body. The style contrasted greatly to the standup that Serra had used so successfully the first time. Was St. Pierre worried the few times that Serra got back to his feet?

Although he will have to prove it, I feel like we are now staring at a division where one fighter is a level beyond the rest. I agree with florian when he says that gsp is the best practical wrestler in mma. He is also arguably the most dynamic striker in the division, and I personally would put his striking as top 5 in mma.. maybe higher. My only hesitance of putting him second next to silva is I feel like gsp will have to prove his comfort in striking again after his loss to serra. With that said, if a year from now, the lightweight, welterweight, middle weight, and lightheavy weight champs all remain, there will be some serious potential for some amazing fights and some of the most talented fighters in the world holding more than one belt.

bam383

4/22/08 4:17:26PM

Posted by wapttn

Although he will have to prove it, I feel like we are now staring at a division where one fighter is a level beyond the rest. I agree with florian when he says that gsp is the best practical wrestler in mma. He is also arguably the most dynamic striker in the division, and I personally would put his striking as top 5 in mma.. maybe higher. My only hesitance of putting him second next to silva is I feel like gsp will have to prove his comfort in striking again after his loss to serra. With that said, if a year from now, the lightweight, welterweight, middle weight, and lightheavy weight champs all remain, there will be some serious potential for some amazing fights and some of the most talented fighters in the world holding more than one belt.

Yeah, I'm with you on a lot of what you said. Sometimes it's not as exciting, but dominant champions are good for the sport. Anderson Silva should have MW locked down for quite some time. Sure, there are some people who CAN beat him in the UFC, but he's shown that it's going to be a big IF they can beat him.

St. Pierre should run through any competition in the next year at WW. I love Fitch, but he's not going to do anything to GSP. Alves worries me the most with catching GSP with a good shot, but GSP should hold the division for a while.

At lightweight, whoever wins between BJ and Sherk will be champ for a while, imo. I think Sherk takes the match, but either way, the winner will not give up the title any time soon.

At LHW, Rampage is larger than life and will help the division, with HW being the only weight class where you might see turnover. (i've spent my whole MMA career doubting Nogueira -- i guess he'll just keep proving me wrong as I expect him to give up the title at some point -- not that there's anyone in the UFC who is a huge threat at the moment).

I think the UFC was the most exciting when guys like Liddel, Arlovski, Hughes, and Rich Franklin were laying waste to everyone. We should see a period of that going on for the next year or so.